Zebre Parma 7
Leinster 31
LEINSTER CONSOLIDATED THEIR position atop the URC table with a bonus-point victory over Zebre at Lanfranchi Stadium.
First-half tries by Rob Russell and debutant Andrew Osborne, and further crossings in the second by Luke McGrath, Scott Penny and Russell again, kept Leo Cullen’s side out of reach of Glasgow and the Bulls with six regular-season games remaining.
Zebre, who had won just one of their 11 league games to this point and who have never beaten Leinster, played their part in a highly competitive first half but the visitors’ superior quality was glaring as they turned the screw in the third quarter and ultimately cantered to a 24-point win in Parma.
Leo Cullen was forced into a late change before kick-off, with Brian Deeny replacing Jason Jenkins in the second row and Conor Ó Tighearnaigh becoming the fifth former Ireland U20 to make Leinster’s bench alongside Diarmuid Mangan, Fintan Gunne, Sam Prendergast and Henry McErlean.
The first half was all about Leinster’s starting wide men, however: Rob Russell opened the scoring in the fourth minute when he burned through a hole in the Zebre defence caused by a Ross Byrne decoy as part of a brilliant strike play. Russell collected an inside ball from Liam Turner on the Italians’ 10 before scorching home, declining the support of Luke McGrath by his side.
Byrne converted for 7-0.
Zebre then took advantage of a Turner sin-binning, however, and they pulled level on 25 minutes. It was a picturesque score as out-half Geronimo Prisciantelli cross-field kicked to right wing Scott Gregory, and the former All Black popped back inside for fullback Jacopo Trulla to finish.
Prisciantelli converted from the right to level proceedings.
Leinster retook the lead just five minutes later, however: Luke McGrath attacked blind off a static maul in the Zebre 22′ and Ross Byrne popped to debutant Andrew Osborne on the left edge. Osborne, the younger brother of centre Jamie, chipped ahead deftly with his left foot and collected on the flipside to dot down for his maiden Leinster try.
Byrne, again, added the extras, this time from the left.
Leinster took a 14-7 lead into the sheds after a competitive opening 40.
They stretched that advantage almost straight after the restart.
A powerful carry by former Ireland U20 Henry McErlean off the bench was complemented by Max Deegan, who took contact and offloaded over the top to Luke McGrath who had the simple task of diving over the paint to take his career-long points tally for Leinster to 250.
Byrne, from the right-hand touchline, missed his first kick of the night but Leinster had breathing space at 19-7.
Captain Scott Penny crossed soon afterwards for his 33rd Leinster try, sealing the bonus point under the posts after a sharp Turner break took him to within five of the Zebre line. Byrne chipped over for 26-7.
Penny then thwarted an opportunity for the hosts on the hour mark, winning a jackal penalty inches short of his own line to effectively kill the game.
Half-backs Fintan Gunne and Sam Prendergast were introduced ahead of the next play. They didn’t get much of an opportunity to leave their own imprints on the game as Leinster absorbed Zebre pressure throughout the final quarter, but Gunne did zip a skip pass out to John McKee who fed Rob Russell for the right wing’s second try, and Leinster’s fifth, as the eastern province put the cherry on top.
Predergast hit the post with his touchline conversion from the right, but Leinster will carry some fine form into next week’s clash with the now second-placed Bulls, who picked up maximum points away to the Dragons to overtake Glasgow and keep pace with the leaders.
Scorers for Zebre: Tries: Jacopo Trulla. Cons: Geronimo Prisciantelli (1/1)
Scorers for Leinster: Tries: Rob Russell (2), Andrew Osborne, Luke McGrath, Scott Penny. Cons: Ross Byrne (3/4).
Zebre Parma: Jacopo Trulla; Scott Gregory, Luca Morisi, Fetuli Paea, Simone Gesi; Geronimo Prisciantelli, Gonzalo Garcia; Muhamed Hasa, Giampietro Ribaldi, Juan Pitinari; David Sisi, Leonard Krumov; Davide Ruggeri, Iacopo Bianchi, Giovanni Licata (capt)
Replacements: Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, Luca Rizzoli, Riccardo Genovese, Matteo Canali, Josh Kaifa, Alessandro Fusco, Damiano Mazza, Pierre Bruno
Leinster: Ciarán Frawley; Rob Russell, Liam Turner, Jamie Osborne, Andrew Osborne; Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath; Ed Byrne, Lee Barron, Thomas Clarkson; Ross Molony, Brian Deeny; Will Connors, Scott Penny (capt), Max Deegan.
Replacements: John McKee, Michael Milne, Michael Ala’alatoa, Conor Ó Tighearnaigh, Diarmuid Mangan, Fintan Gunne, Sam Prendergast, Henry McErlean.
Referee: Morne Ferreira (SARU)
Quality player, very surprised he was dropped.
I’d be very surprised if he was dropped in the first place as he needed match time. He’s better than Jager in all facets that I’ve seen, scrum, maul and as we’ve all seen, in the lose. Jager, just not seeing it with him especially scrum. Am I missing something???
@Noel Lynn: Bealham is certainly well ahead of Jager and all other TH (Furlong apart) in Ireland, but I think Jager is doing a better job than you’re giving credit for. He’s been very good at scrum time for munster, especially when he came up against Porter, and was solid against Wales. His ruck defense was excellent both clearing and counter rucking and his goal line defense was superb. His lineout work wasn’t up to scratch IMO and he still needs to improve his S&C but he’s certainly got a high ceiling and a great addition to our TH stock.
@Noel Lynn: Short answer – yes
Easily the best TH after Furlong, who seems to have recovered some of his previous form. Great to have several options here between Furlong, Bealham, O’Toole and Jager. The order is not important as they are all playing well at the moment.
Literally no one else is suprised.
@Thesaltyurchin: I’m surprised, arguably pushing Furlong for a starting spot
Bealham is a quality player but I think it’s getting a bit clearer that farrell and his coaches are huge fans of jager. To go from the ‘training squad’ to the verge of the 1st choice 23 over a couple of weeks is pretty phenomenonal
@munsterman: jager has plenty to work on to over take Bealham. He may not have over taken TO’T yet, so 1 step at a time.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: well I’ve never seen farrell move so quickly to promote a player in a meaningful match. Even players like Joe Mccarthy and crowley had to put in their time in camp for a year or so. There’s every chance that bealham will be back-up th v England but you wouldn’t bet on it
@munsterman: There’s every chance that Bealham will start and Jager on the bench if Furlong injured.
@Con Cussed: yea that’d be the most likely scenario I’d imagine. It’s quite tough on otoole who’s been very good for Ireland too
@munsterman: Agreed. It just means the pressure is now on all four to keep the momentum up. It’s a tough position and injuries abound so can see them all getting a chance in the future.
This could mean Furlong has an injury concern… I hope not!
Has anyone authoritative said that Bealham was dropped? As far as I recall the mood music before the Welsh game was that Bealham had proved himself across a number of matches to be no great step down from Furlong; and that Farrell was taking advantage of a game we were almost certain to win to have a look at Jäger off the bench.
Depressing stuff
@Kevin Ryan: when have we ever seen farrell use a competitive game to just have a look at a player? The only time he ever changes up his side much is v the most tier2 of tier2 nations in Nov or else gets A games set up
@munsterman: Giving a guy a debut as a bench prop is not really changing the side much, though. And if he didn’t pick this game, he’d have to wait until the Autumn, assuming SA too strong. Anyways, we’ll see what Farrell does with the selection for the England game.
The story around Bealham is a bit of a head scratcher. Why was he dropped? Some say he needed time off as a new dad. Personally I believe the coaches think Jager is a better prop. When your coach uses faint praise to describe your last performance then you are in trouble. I think Farrell described Bealham’s last outing as “decent enough”. In all these scenarios the public never gets a true picture until someone writes a book.
@Tom Reilly: I seem to have missed him saying that about Bealham – was that in a press conference? I checked the post Italy match press conference again to refresh my memory, and Faz was effusive in his praise of the set piece, calling it excellent and top notch, so I’m surprised he would then be naming Finlay as not being a top performer. A lot of media said that Finlay was doing as much as he could possibly do to challenge Furlong for the starting berth on the back of his performance against Italy, so I don’t think I’m the only one who thought he performed excellent in that match.
@Tom Reilly: ah, I heard it now – it was from the pre-Wales match conference. To be honest, the way I hear it, it seemed more so saying that Oli deserved a chance in spite of Bealham having a decent performance. TBH, I think he couldn’t say “Wales’ scrum is poor so this is the best chance to give Oli a tryout in the six nations window”, so has to justify it on the basis of competition for places. If he said Finlay was excellent, then he would effectively be needing to say that Oli is even better, which would be a huge amount of pressure to put on a debutant. So, he kind of has to nearly qualify Bealham’s performance so as not to put down Wales.
@JoeVlogs: As I said earlier it is hard to know what exactly is going on. I think most people think Bealham did not deserve to be dropped from a playing point of view. Maybe something else is going on.
The euphemism that Alex Ferguson developed to replace “dropped” was “rotated.” The image that most of us have of a “dropped” player is of someone so bad in the last match that they had to be replaced. Sometimes it is about building squad depth, other times you were the Lions captain last week and this week not in the 23 – an utterly unexplainable event.
I suspect that Furlong has twinged his hamstring. If Furlong is out, Bealham absolutely starts ahead of Jager – and we all know that.
@PatN: I meant calf not hamstring
Bealham should be pushing Furlong for a starting position not getting dropped
When was the last v good game from Furlong?
@Derek Casserly: Last week!
There is much debate about the word “dropped” concerning Bealham. Was he or wasn’t he dropped. IMO if a player is available for selection, has been selected everytime he is available and then he is not selected, then he is indeed deemed “dropped”.
Let’s stop using the word “dropped”. To play at elite level you need a squad of 35 players and the ability to get game time into all of them. ( let’s not repeat RWC errors from the past). Rotatated is a much better word.